Video service transmission method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A video service transmission method and apparatus in the field of communications technologies are provided, where data in a video data frame can be split into at least two substreams based on a mapping relationship between data importance and a substream. The data of the at least two substreams may then be mapped, based on port numbers corresponding to the at least two substreams, to bearers corresponding to the at least two substreams, for transmission. Because a network can use different processing methods for data on different bearers, reliable transmission of video data frames of high importance can be ensured with priority by using the video service transmission method and apparatus, so as to improve service experience of video users in a scenario of constrained transmission resources.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2016/081174, filed on May 5, 2016, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application pertains to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a video service transmission methodand apparatus.

BACKGROUND

With rapid development of the mobile communications and Internetindustries, video services are becoming mainstream multimedia services.Video services are transmitted and stored on a network in a form ofvideo files. Because uncompressed original video files have a very largedata amount, and transmission and storage require high transmissionbandwidths and a large quantity of storage space resources, uncompressedoriginal video files are not suitable for transmission and storage onthe network. To facilitate transmission and storage of video files onthe network, the industry has introduced a video compression codingmethod.

H.264 is a high-compression-rate digital video codec standard proposedby the Joint Video Team jointly formed by the Video Coding Experts Groupof the International Telecommunication Union-TelecommunicationStandardization Sector (ITU-T) and the Moving Picture Experts Group(MPEG) of the International Organization forStandardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC).

However, in a prior video transmission scheme, there exists a problemthat may occur where better quality of service (QoS) cannot be providedfor data of high importance during a video service transmission process,especially with constrained transmission resources. As a result,reliable transmission of the data of high importance cannot be ensuredwith priority.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a video servicetransmission method and apparatus, where data in a video data frame canbe split into at least two substreams based on a mapping relationshipbetween data importance and a substream, and data of the at least twosubstreams is mapped, based on port numbers corresponding to the atleast two substreams, to bearers corresponding to the at least twosubstreams, for transmission. Because a network can use differentprocessing methods for data on different bearers, reliable transmissionof video data frames of high importance can be ensured with priority byusing the video service transmission method and apparatus provided inthe embodiments of the present invention, so as to improve serviceexperience of video users in a scenario of constrained transmissionresources.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a video service transmission method, including: determiningimportance of data in a video data frame; splitting the data in thevideo data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream; and mapping, basedon port numbers corresponding to the at least two substreams, data ofthe at least two substreams to bearers corresponding to the at least twosubstreams, for transmission. Optionally, the data of the substream thatis mapped to the bearer may be transmitted by using a secure transferprotocol.

In a possible embodiment, the determining importance of data in a videodata frame includes: determining importance of the video data frame, ordetermining importance of a network abstract layer unit NALU in thevideo data frame.

In a possible embodiment, the importance of the video data frame may bedetermined in the following manner: first obtaining a frame type of thevideo data frame, and then determining the importance of the video dataframe based on a mapping relationship between a frame type and frameimportance. Specifically, the frame type of the video data frame can beobtained by using information in a frame header of the video data frame.

In a possible embodiment, the importance of the NALU in video data framemay be determined in the following manner: obtaining a NALU type of theNALU in the video data frame, and determining the importance of the NALUbased on a mapping relationship between a NALU type and NALU importance.Specifically, the NALU type of the NALU in the video data frame can beobtained by using header information of the NALU in the video dataframe.

In a possible embodiment, the data is split, in a granularity of a videodata frame, into the at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between video data frame importance and a substream.

In a possible embodiment, the data is split, in a granularity of a NALU,into the at least two substreams based on a mapping relationship betweenimportance of a NALU in a video data frame and a substream.

In a possible embodiment, data of high importance is mapped to asubstream that performs transmission by using a bearer that can meet aQoS requirement of the data, so as to meet the QoS requirement of thedata. When the data of high importance is transmitted along with data oflow importance on a network, because the data of high importance and thedata of low importance are transmitted on different bearers, the networkcan use different processing methods for data of different importance,so as to ensure reliable transmission of the data of high importancewith priority.

In a possible embodiment, a media sub-component descriptioncorresponding to the substream is determined based on a stream number ofthe substream; a transmit-end port number in the media sub-componentdescription can be further determined; the bearer corresponding to thesubstream can be further determined based on the transmit-end portnumber; and the data of the substream is mapped to the bearercorresponding to the substream, for transmission.

In a possible embodiment, bearers corresponding to different substreamsmay all be transmitted by using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP),or may all be transmitted by using the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), orsome of the bearers are transmitted by using the TCP and the rest of thebearers are transmitted by using the UDP. The TCP is a reliabletransmission mechanism and may be used for bearing video data of highimportance. The UDP is an unreliable transmission mechanism and may beused for bearing video data of low importance.

In a possible embodiment, after the data is split in a granularity of avideo data frame, header information of a video data frame in thesubstream may further include a before-splitting DSN of the video dataframe in addition to a substream data sequence number (DSN) of the videodata frame in the post-splitting substream.

In a possible embodiment, an existing flexible macroblock ordering (FMO)coding method is extended, and a new mapping pattern from a macroblockto a slice group is defined. The mapping pattern may define which typesof macroblocks are mapped to a same slice group, so that macroblocks ofhigh importance can be mapped to a same slice group. NALUs of a sametype are generated after data in the same slice group is encoded.Therefore, the NALUs of the same type may be further mapped to a bearercorresponding to a same substream, for transmission. In this way, anobjective of implementing reliable transmission for macroblocks of highimportance with priority is achieved.

In a possible embodiment, after the data is split in a granularity of aNALU, header information of a substream data frame may further includean original DSN that is corresponding to each NALU in the substream dataframe in addition to a post-splitting substream DSN.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatus maysupport at least one splitting scheme. Further, in a scenario in whichthe video service transmission apparatus supports more than onesplitting scheme, the video service transmission apparatus may furtherdetermine specifically which splitting scheme to be used based on aconfiguration parameter related to the splitting scheme.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides another video service transmission method, including:receiving, by a video service receiving apparatus from at least twobearers, data of at least two substreams, where the bearers arecorresponding to the substreams based on a receive-end port number, andthe data of the substreams is obtained by splitting video data based ona mapping relationship between importance of data in a video data frameand a substream; and then performing, by the video service receivingapparatus, aggregation processing on the data that is from the at leasttwo substreams. The method is used to receive the video data sent by thevideo service transmission apparatus in the video service transmissionmethod in the first aspect, and therefore can implement the beneficialeffects of the video service transmission method in the first aspect.

In a possible embodiment, different data splitting manners are used forthe video service transmission apparatus in the first aspect, and thevideo service receiving apparatus performs different aggregationprocessing for the received data of the substreams. If the video servicetransmission apparatus performs splitting at a video data frame level,the video service receiving apparatus can aggregate the data of thesubstreams, and sort the aggregated data based on a before-splittingoriginal DSN. If the video service transmission apparatus performssplitting at a NALU level, the video service receiving apparatus firstaggregates the data of the substreams, based on a before-splittingoriginal DSN that is corresponding to a NALU in the data, combines theNALU to restore a before-splitting video data frame, and then sorts thegenerated video data frame based on the original DSN.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus cansupport receiving processing corresponding to at least one splittingscheme. The video service receiving apparatus determines a splittingscheme used for video service transmission before performing aggregationprocessing. Specifically, the video service receiving apparatus maydetermine the splitting scheme used for video service transmission byusing a splitting scheme-related information element, where thesplitting scheme-related information element may be included in asignaling message or may be included in the video data and sent by thevideo service transmission apparatus to the video service receivingapparatus. Alternatively, the video service receiving apparatus maydetermine the splitting scheme used for video service transmission byobtaining a characteristic of the video data frame. For a scenario inwhich only one splitting scheme is supported, the splitting schemesupported by the video service receiving apparatus and the video servicetransmission apparatus may be specified.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a video service transmission apparatus. The apparatusimplements functions of the video service transmission apparatus in thevideo service transmission method in the first aspect, and therefore canimplement the beneficial effects of the video service transmissionmethod in the first aspect. The functions may be implemented byhardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing correspondingsoftware. The hardware or software includes at least one module thatcorresponds to the foregoing functions.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatusincludes a processor and a transceiver. The processor is configured todetermine importance of data in a video data frame and split the data inthe video data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream, and is furtherconfigured to map, based on port numbers corresponding to the at leasttwo substreams, data of the at least two substreams to bearerscorresponding to the at least two substreams. The transceiver isconfigured to transmit data on the bearer.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of determining, by theprocessor, importance of data in a video data frame, refer to relateddescriptions in the method embodiment in the first aspect. For a mannerand a process of splitting, by the processor, the data in the video dataframe into at least two substreams based on a mapping relationshipbetween data importance and a substream, refer to related descriptionsin the method embodiment in the first aspect.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of mapping, by the processorbased on port numbers corresponding to the at least two substreams, dataof the at least two substreams to bearers corresponding to the at leasttwo substreams, refer to related descriptions in the method embodimentin the first aspect. The processor may further perform encryptionprocessing, by using a secure transfer protocol, on the data of thesubstream that is mapped to the bearer.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatusfurther includes a video encoder. The video encoder is configured toencode a video to obtain a video data frame, and send the encoded videodata frame to the processor for processing.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatus mayfurther include a memory. The memory is configured to store relatedprogram code and data in the video encoder, the processor, and thetransceiver. The data stored in the memory may include at least one of amapping relationship between a frame type and frame importance, amapping relationship between a NALU type and NALU importance, a mappingrelationship from a macroblock to a slice group, and a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatus isany one of a video server, a video conference terminal, or a videoconference management server.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides another video service transmission apparatus. The apparatusperforms a function of the video service transmission apparatus in thevideo service transmission method in the first aspect, and therefore canimplement the beneficial effects of the video service transmissionmethod in the first aspect. The functions may be implemented byhardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing correspondingsoftware. The hardware or software includes at least one module thatcorresponds to the foregoing functions.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatusincludes a data splitting unit, a bearer mapping unit, and acommunications unit. The data splitting unit is configured to determineimportance of data in a video data frame, and is configured to split thedata in the video data frame into at least two substreams based on amapping relationship between data importance and a substream. The bearermapping unit is configured to map, based on port numbers correspondingto the at least two substreams, data of the at least two substreams tobearers corresponding to the at least two substream. The communicationsunit is configured to transmit data on the bearer.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of determining, by the datasplitting unit, importance of data in a video data frame, refer torelated descriptions in the method embodiment in the first aspect. For amanner and a process of splitting, by the data splitting unit, the datain the video data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream, refer to relateddescriptions in the method embodiment in the first aspect.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of mapping, by the bearermapping unit, data of the substream to a bearer corresponding to thesubstream, refer to related descriptions in the method embodiment in thefirst aspect. The bearer mapping unit may further perform encryptionprocessing, by using a secure transfer protocol, on the data of thesubstream that is mapped to the bearer.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatusfurther includes a video encoding unit, configured to encode a video toobtain a video data frame, and send the encoded video data frame to thedata splitting unit for splitting processing on the data.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatus mayfurther include a flexible macroblock ordering unit, configured toimplement mapping from a macroblock to a slice group in a video picture,and send slice group data of the video picture to the video encodingunit.

In a possible embodiment, for a data splitting scheme at a NALU level,there may be flexible mapping from a macroblock to a NALU. The flexiblemacroblock ordering unit may extend an existing FMO encoding method anddefine a new mapping pattern from a macroblock to a slice group. Themapping pattern may define which types of macroblocks are mapped to asame slice group.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatus mayfurther include a storage unit. The storage unit is configured to storerelated program code and data in the flexible macroblock ordering unit,the video encoding unit, the data splitting unit, the bearer mappingunit, and the communications unit. The data stored in the storage unitmay include at least one of a mapping relationship between a frame typeand frame importance, a mapping relationship between a NALU type andNALU importance, a mapping relationship from a macroblock to a slicegroup, and a mapping relationship between data importance and asubstream.

In a possible embodiment, the video service transmission apparatus isany one of a video server, a video conference terminal, or a videoconference management server.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a video service receiving apparatus. The apparatus implementsfunctions of the video service receiving apparatus in the video servicetransmission method in the second aspect, and therefore can implementthe beneficial effects of the video service transmission method in thesecond aspect. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may beimplemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardwareor software includes at least one module that corresponds to theforegoing functions.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus includesa processor and a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive,from at least two bearers, data of at least two substreams, where thebearers are corresponding to the substreams based on a receive-end portnumber, and the data of the substreams is obtained by splitting videodata based on a mapping relationship between importance of data in avideo data frame and a substream. The processor is configured to performaggregation processing on the data that is from the at least twosubstreams.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus furtherincludes a video decoder, configured to decode the data after theaggregation processing, to obtain a before-encoding video.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of performing, by theprocessor, aggregation processing on the data, refer to relateddescriptions in the method embodiment in the second aspect.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus is anyone of a terminal, a video conference terminal, or a video conferencemanagement server.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides another video service receiving apparatus. The apparatusperforms a function of the video service receiving apparatus in thevideo service transmission method in the second aspect, and thereforecan implement the beneficial effects of the video service transmissionmethod in the second aspect. The functions may be implemented byhardware, or may be implemented by hardware executing correspondingsoftware. The hardware or software includes at least one module thatcorresponds to the foregoing functions.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus includesa data aggregation unit and a communications unit. The communicationsunit is configured to receive, from at least two bearers, data of atleast two substreams, where the bearers are corresponding to thesubstreams based on a receive-end port number, and the data of thesubstreams is obtained by splitting video data based on a mappingrelationship between importance of data in a video data frame and asubstream. The data aggregation unit is configured to performaggregation processing on the data that is from the at least twosubstreams.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus furtherincludes a video decoding unit, configured to decode the data after theaggregation processing, to obtain a before-encoding video.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of performing, by the dataaggregation unit, aggregation processing on the data, refer to relateddescriptions in the method embodiment in the second aspect.

In a possible embodiment, the video service receiving apparatus is anyone of a terminal, a video conference terminal, or a video conferencemanagement server.

For the embodiments from the first aspect to the sixth aspect, for radiobearers that have different quality of service (QoS) requirements, aradio access network (RAN) has a plurality of policies to ensurereliable transmission of data on a radio bearer of high importance withpriority. Specific possible embodiments are as follows.

In a possible embodiment, the RAN may use different networkconfiguration parameters. For example, different radio link control(RLC) modes are used. For data on a radio bearer of high importance, anRLC acknowledged mode (AM) is used; for data on a radio bearer of lowimportance, an RLC unacknowledged mode (UM) is used. Alternatively,different quantities of retransmissions of a hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) are configured. For data on a radio bearer of highimportance, a relatively large quantity of HARQ retransmissions isconfigured, for example, 6, so as to ensure reliable transmission of thedata; for data on a radio bearer of low importance, a relatively smallquantity of HARQ retransmissions is configured, for example, 2. In thisway, in a scenario of constrained resources, reliable transmission ofdata of high importance may be ensured with priority.

In a possible embodiment, the RAN may alternatively use differentscheduling policies for different radio bearers, and allocate radioresources to the data on the radio bearer of high importance withpriority. In this way, in a scenario of constrained resources, reliabletransmission of data of high importance may be ensured with priority.

In a possible embodiment, the RAN may alternatively map different radiobearers to different carriers for bearing. For example, in a carrieraggregation scenario, because a path loss of a low-frequency carrier isless than a path loss of a high-frequency carrier, a radio bearer ofhigh importance may be mapped to the low-frequency carrier fortransmission, and a radio bearer of low importance may be mapped to thehigh-frequency carrier for transmission.

In a possible embodiment, the RAN may alternatively map different radiobearers to different types of spectrums for bearing. A licensed spectrumis a spectrum resource that may be controlled by an operator, andinterference coordination and control can be performed effectively. Anunlicensed spectrum is beyond control of the operator, and interferencesand conflicts of which are uncontrollable. For data transmission on theunlicensed spectrum, a transmission bandwidth and delay cannot beensured. However, due to low costs, using the unlicensed spectrum is aneffective supplement to data transmission by operators. Therefore, theradio bearer of high importance may be mapped to the licensed spectrumfor transmission, and the radio bearer of low importance may be mappedto the unlicensed spectrum for transmission.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention more clearly, the following briefly describes the accompanyingdrawings required for describing the embodiments of the presentinvention. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the followingdescription show merely some embodiments of the present invention, and aperson of ordinary skill in the art may derive other drawings from theseaccompanying drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a possible application scenarioaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a possible system network architectureaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible process of establishing avideo service bearer according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a possible video data frame formataccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a possible video service transmissionmethod according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of possible video data splittingtransmission at a video data frame level according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of possible video data splitting at a NALUlevel according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of possible video data aggregation in ascenario of video data splitting at a NALU level according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a possible video servicetransmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another possible videoservice transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a possible video servicereceiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another possible videoservice receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention describe a video servicetransmission method and apparatus, where data is split based onimportance of data in a video data frame, so as to implement thatdifferent processing methods are used for data of different importance,and reliable transmission of data of high importance is ensured withpriority.

FIG. 1 shows a possible application scenario according to an embodimentof the present invention. A terminal 101 accesses a video server 103through a network 102, to obtain a video service, such as a videobroadcast or a video-on-demand service. The network 102 herein mayinclude a mobile broadband access network, such as a Long Term Evolution(LTE) or a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobilebroadband access network, or may include a fixed broadband accessnetwork, such as an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) or a FiberTo The Home (FTTH) fixed broadband access network. In this scenario, thevideo server 103 may be considered as a video service transmissionapparatus, and the terminal 101 may be considered as a video servicereceiving apparatus.

In addition, this embodiment of the present invention may bealternatively applied to a video conference management system, where atleast two video conference terminals perform video communications byusing the video conference management system. Correspondingly, thefollowing cases may exist for video service data transmission. Videodata is uploaded from a video conference terminal to a video conferencemanagement server. In this case, the video conference terminal may beconsidered as a video service transmission apparatus, and the videoconference management server may be considered as a video servicereceiving apparatus. The video conference management server synthesizesthe video data that is received and that is from the at least two videoconference terminals, and pushes the synthesized video to correspondingvideo conference terminals. In this case, the video conferencemanagement server may be considered as a video service transmissionapparatus, and the video conference terminal may be considered as avideo service receiving apparatus.

The terminal in this embodiment of the present invention may bealternatively referred to as user equipment, and may be a wirelessterminal or a wired terminal. A wireless terminal may be a deviceproviding voice and/or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld devicehaving a wireless connection function, or another processing deviceconnected to a wireless modem. The wireless terminal may communicatewith at least one core network by using a radio access network. Thewireless terminal may be a mobile terminal, for example, a mobile phone(or referred to as a “cellular” phone), or a computer with a mobileterminal. For example, the wireless terminal may be a portable,pocket-sized, handheld, computer built-in, or in-vehicle mobileapparatus, which exchanges voice and/or data with a radio accessnetwork. The wireless terminal may also be referred to as a subscriberunit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote station, anaccess point, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, auser agent, or user equipment. The wired terminal may refer to a devicethat provides a user with voice and/or data connectivity in a wiredmanner, for example, a wired video telephone or a computer havingfunctions of a video communications terminal.

As shown in FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of a possible system networkarchitecture according to an embodiment of the present invention isprovided, including mainly a terminal 201, an E-UTRAN NodeB (eNB) 202, amobility management entity (MME) 203, a serving gateway (S-GW) 204, apacket data network gateway (P-GW) 205, a policy and charging rulesfunction (PCRF) 206, and a video server 207. For detailed descriptionsof functions, interfaces, and signaling procedures of the foregoingnetwork elements, refer to a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)protocol, for example, the TS 23.401 v13.4.0. As shown in FIG. 2, thevideo server 207 performs message exchange with the PCRF 206 by using anRx interface, the video server 207 performs message exchange with theP-GW 205 by using an SGi interface, the P-GW 205 performs messageexchange with the S-GW 204 by using an S5 interface, the P-GW 205performs message exchange with the PCRF 206 by using a Gx interface, theS-GW 204 performs message exchange with the MME 203 by using an S11interface, the S-GW 204 performs message exchange with the eNB 202 byusing an S1-U interface, the MME 203 performs message exchange with theeNB 202 by using an S1-MME interface, and the eNB 202 performs messageexchange with the terminal 201 by using a Uu interface.

A network architecture and an application scenario that are described inthe embodiments of the present invention are used to describe thetechnical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention moreclearly, but do not limit the technical solutions provided in theembodiments of the present invention. A person of ordinary skill in theart may know that the technical solutions provided in the embodiments ofthe present invention are also applicable to similar technical problemsas the network architecture evolves and a new application scenarioappears.

It can be understood that transmission of a video service is based on abearer. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible process ofestablishing a video service bearer according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

301: After receiving a service request message sent by a terminal, avideo server sends an authentication authorization request (AAR) messageto a PCRF through an Rx interface.

The service request message may be a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)GET request message, or may be another similar service request message.

The AAR message includes a user IP address, an application identifier,media description information, and the like. The media descriptioninformation includes a media component number, a media type, descriptioninformation of at least one media sub-component, and the like. The mediasub-component description includes a stream number of the mediasub-component, a port number corresponding to the stream, a media streamdescription, a media stream status, and an uplink/downlink bandwidthapplication of the media sub-component. The port number corresponding tothe stream includes a transmit-end port number and a receive-end portnumber.

To facilitate implementation, by a network, different transmissionquality assurance for data of different importance, and to ensurereliable transmission of data of high importance with priority, thevideo server may split data in a video data frame into at least twosubstreams based on a mapping relationship between data importance and asubstream. To establish a bearer corresponding to the substream, thevideo server provides, in the AAR message, a media sub-componentdescription for each substream. In this case, data streams of one videoare split into a plurality of bearers for transmission. A data streamtransmitted on each bearer may be referred to as a video data substream,a substream for short.

The mapping relationship between data importance and a substream hereinis also a mapping relationship between data importance and a bearer. Totransmit data of different importance, different bearers may beestablished, and each bearer has a different quality of service (QoS)attribute. For example, different bearers have different uplink/downlinkbandwidth applications. For example, to transmit three types of datawhose data importance is respectively high, medium, and low, the mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream may be establishedaccording to the following method. Data of high importance is mapped toa substream that performs transmission on a bearer that can meet a QoSrequirement of the data. For example, the data of high importancerequires a downlink transmission bandwidth of 10 Mbps. For this, abearer B1 is defined, where a downlink bandwidth application of thebearer is 10 Mbps, data of a substream F1 is transmitted on the bearer,and a stream number of the substream is 1. The data of medium importancerequires a downlink transmission bandwidth of 5 Mbps. For this, atransmission bearer B2 is defined, where a downlink bandwidthapplication of the bearer is 5 Mbps, data of a substream F2 istransmitted on the bearer, and a stream number of the substream is 2.The data of low importance requires a downlink transmission bandwidth of1 Mbps. For this, a transmission bearer B3 is defined, where a downlinkbandwidth application of the bearer is 1 Mbps, data of a substream F3 istransmitted on the bearer, and a stream number of the substream is 3.

302: After receiving the AAA message, the PCRF matches, based on anattribute-value pair (AVP) in the AAR message, a user-subscribed serviceand a QoS parameter, and then sends a re-authentication request (RAR)message to a P-GW to apply for establishing at least two dedicatedbearers.

The RAR message includes a policy and charging control (PCC) rule thatis delivered by the PCRF to the P-GW, and the PCC rule includes QoSparameters of the data stream and values of the QoS parameters.Therefore, the PCRF allocates a different PCC rule to each substream,and sends the PCC rule to the P-GW by using the RAR message. The QoSparameters herein may include a QoS class identifier (QCI), anallocation and retention priority (ARP), and an allowed uplink/downlinkbit rate.

303: The P-GW parses the PCC rule carried in the RAR message and sends,based on the QoS parameters and the values of the QoS parameters in thePCC rule, at least one bearer establishment request message to an S-GW,to initiate establishing at least two dedicated bearers.

The bearer establishment request message includes the QoS parameters.One bearer establishment request message may be used to establish onededicated bearer, or establish a plurality of bearers simultaneously.

304: After receiving the bearer establishment request message, the S-GWsends the bearer establishment request message to an MME, to initiateestablishing at least two dedicated bearers. The message includes theQoS parameters and the values of the QoS parameters.

305: After receiving the bearer establishment request message, the MMEallocates an unused evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier toeach bearer establishment request message, and then sends a bearerestablishment request message to an eNB, to initiate establishing atleast two dedicated bearers. The bearer establishment request messagecarries the EPS bearer identifier and a session management request.

The bearer establishment request message received by the MME may includeat least one bearer establishment request, and the bearer establishmentrequest message sent by the MME to the eNB may include at least onebearer establishment request, and one EPS bearer identifier iscorresponding to one EPS bearer. After allocating the EPS beareridentifier, the MME establishes a session management request, where therequest includes QoS parameters and values of the QoS parameters of theEPS bearer. Based on the session management request, the MME sends abearer establishment request to the eNB.

306: After receiving the bearer establishment request, the eNB maps theQoS parameters of the EPS bearer to QoS parameters of a radio bearer,and sends a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfigurationmessage to the terminal, to initiate establishing at least two dedicatedbearers. The message includes the session management request and the QoSparameters of the radio bearer.

307: The terminal sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completemessage to the eNB, to confirm that the radio bearer is activated.

308: The eNB sends a bearer establishment response to the MME confirmthat the bearer is activated.

309: A non-access stratum (NAS) of the terminal establishes a sessionmanagement response including the EPS bearer identifier. The sessionmanagement response is borne in a direct transmission message and sentto the eNB.

310: The eNB sends a session management response message to the MME.

311: After receiving the bearer establishment response message and thesession management response message that are fed back by the eNB, theMME sends a bearer establishment response to the S-GW, to confirm to theS-GW that the bearer is activated.

312: The S-GW sends a bearer establishment response message to the P-GW,to confirm to the P-GW that the bearer is activated.

313: After receiving the bearer establishment response, the P-GW sends are-authentication answer (RAA) message to the PCRF, to indicate that thebearer is established successfully.

314: After receiving the RAA message, the PCRF informs the video serverthat bearer establishment is complete.

After the foregoing steps, at least two end-to-end bearers areestablished between the video server and the terminal, to bear datatransmission of at least two video substreams. The bearer is identifiedat the transmit end by using the transmit-end port number of thesubstream in the media sub-component description in 301, and isidentified at the receive end by using the receive-end port number ofthe substream in the media sub-component description in 301. The datasubstream transmitted on the bearer is identified by using the streamnumber in the media sub-component description in 301. Different bearersmay have different values of QoS parameters, so as to implementdifferent transmission quality assurance for data of the substreamtransmitted on the bearer, and further to ensure reliable transmissionof data of high importance with priority.

In the foregoing procedure, at least two bearers can be established at atime. It may be understood that alternatively one bearer can beestablished at a time. A procedure of establishing one bearer is similarto procedures 301 to 314. Further, at least two bearers may beestablished through at least two procedures.

The process of establishing a video service bearer described in FIG. 3is based on the application scenario shown in FIG. 1. It may beunderstood that this embodiment of the present invention may bealternatively applied to another application scenario, where there is asimilar corresponding process of establishing a video service bearer,for example, an application scenario in which the above-mentioned atleast two video conference terminals perform video communications byusing a video conference management system. The corresponding process ofestablishing a video service bearer can be understood by and well knownto a person skilled in the art. Details are not described herein again.

The process of establishing a video service bearer described in FIG. 3is based on the system network architecture shown in FIG. 2. It may beunderstood that this embodiment of the present invention mayalternatively use another system network architecture, and there is asimilar corresponding process of establishing a video service bearer.

For ease of description and understanding, the foregoing applicationscenario, the network architecture, and the bearer establishment processare described by using a specific video service transmission apparatusand a video service receiving apparatus. For example, the video servicetransmission apparatus may be a video server, a video conferenceterminal, or a video conference management server, and the video servicereceiving apparatus may be a terminal, a video conference terminal, or avideo conference management server. The following directly uses the twoterms “video service transmission apparatus” and “video servicereceiving apparatus” to describe a video service transmission method.

As mentioned before, the video service transmission apparatus encodes avideo service to obtain a video data frame. A method for video encodingmay be H.264, or may be another encoding method. The following uses theH.264 encoding method as an example for description.

A video includes a plurality of pictures. One picture may be dividedinto at least one slice for encoding, to generate a video data frame.FIG. 4 gives a schematic diagram of a possible video data frame formataccording to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4,one slice includes at least one macroblock, where a macroblock is abasic unit of video encoding processing. Data obtained after encoding ofone slice is encapsulated into at least one network abstraction layerunit (NALU), where a NALU is a basic unit of video service transmission.

Because different predictive coding manners, for example, intra-frameprediction and inter-frame prediction, may be used for macroblocks,different macroblocks may have different sizes and importance. In H.264,four types of macroblocks are defined: an I-macroblock, an SI-macroblock(a special intra-frame coding macroblock), a P-macroblock, and aB-macroblock, where the I-macroblock and the SI-macroblock useintra-frame prediction, and the P-macroblock and the B-macroblock useinter-frame prediction. Importance of different macroblocks issequentially: I-macroblock>SI-macroblock>P-macroblock>B-macroblock.

A video data frame obtained after H.264 encoding may be classified intothree types based on encoding manners: an intra-frame encoded I-frame, aforward prediction encoded P-frame, and a bi-directional predictionencoded B-frame. The I-frame is encoded by directly performingintra-frame encoding on an original data frame before encoding withoutreference to information of other original data frames. The I-frame canindependently restore a before-encoding data frame by using data of theI-frame. For the P-frame, motion prediction is performed by using arecent I-frame or P-frame as a comparison benchmark, to record adifference between the data frame and the benchmark data frame. Encodingefficiency of the P-frame is relatively high. However, the P-frame canrestore a before-encoding data frame only by referring to the benchmarkdata frame. For the B-frame, bi-directional prediction encoding isperformed by using an adjacent previous data frame and a next data frameas references. In the three types of data frames, the I-frame is themost important, followed by the P-frame, and the B-frame at last.

The foregoing classification of macroblocks and video data frames andimportance sorting of macroblocks and video data frames are alldescribed based on definitions in the current H.264 video encodingstandard. These are merely specific examples of the embodiments of thepresent invention. It can be understood that the embodiments of thepresent invention do not impose any limitation on the classification andimportance sorting of macroblocks and video data frames.

After establishment of a video service bearer is completed, the videoservice transmission apparatus can send the video service to the videoservice receiving apparatus on the established bearer. FIG. 5 gives aschematic diagram of a possible video service transmission methodaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

501: Determine importance of data in a video data frame.

The data in the video data frame herein may refer to the video dataframe, or may be a data unit in the video data frame, for example, aNALU.

Specifically, importance of the video data frame may be determined inthe following manner: obtaining a frame type of the video data frame,and determining the importance of the video data frame based on amapping relationship between a frame type and frame importance.Specifically, the frame type of the video data frame can be obtained byusing information in a frame header of the video data frame.

Specifically, importance of the NALU in video data frame may bedetermined in the following manner: obtaining a NALU type of the NALU inthe video data frame, and determining the importance of the NALU basedon a mapping relationship between a NALU type and NALU importance.Specifically, the NALU type of the NALU in the video data frame can beobtained by using header information of the NALU in the video dataframe.

502: The video service transmission apparatus splits the data in thevideo data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream.

For a description about the mapping relationship between data importanceand a substream, refer to related descriptions in the foregoingembodiments.

It can be understood that the mapping relationship between dataimportance and a substream can be configured differently depending ondifferent video services. For example, video data of a high-definitionvideo service is mapped with three types of importance: high, medium,and low, while video data of a standard-definition video service ismapped with only two types of importance: high and medium. In addition,different mapping relationships can be selected based on different usertypes. For example, video data of a gold user is mapped with three typesof importance: high, medium, and low, while video data of a silver useris mapped with only two types of importance: high and medium.

503: The video service transmission apparatus maps, based on portnumbers corresponding to the at least two substreams, data of the atleast two substreams to bearers corresponding to the at least twosubstreams, for transmission.

The port number may be a transmit-end port number.

Optionally, the data of the substream that is mapped to the bearer maybe transmitted by using a secure transfer protocol, so as to ensuresecurity and data integrity of the service. The secure sockets layer(SSL) is a secure transfer protocol that is relatively widely applied atpresent.

As shown in FIG. 6, data of a substream 1 is mapped to a bearer 1 fortransmission, data of a substream 2 is mapped to a bearer 2 fortransmission, and data of a substream 3 is mapped to a bearer 3 fortransmission.

In 301, each substream is corresponding to one bearer, and each beareris corresponding to one media sub-component description. The mediasub-component description includes a stream number, and a transmit-endport number and a receive-end port number of the stream. Therefore, amedia sub-component description corresponding to the substream can bedetermined based on the stream number of the substream. Further, thetransmit-end port number in the media sub-component description can bedetermined. Further, the bearer corresponding to the substream can bedetermined based on the transmit-end port number, to implement mappingbetween the substream and the bearer. Then the data of the substream ismapped to the bearer corresponding to the substream, for transmission.

Data in substreams with different QoS requirements is transmitted ondifferent bearers. Therefore, a network can perform respective controlover the data in the substreams with different QoS requirements, toensure reliable transmission of video data of high importance withpriority.

Further, bearers corresponding to at least two substreams may all betransmitted by using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), or may allbe transmitted by using the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), or some of thebearers are transmitted by using the TCP and the rest of the bearers aretransmitted by using the UDP. For example, the bearer 1, the bearer 2,and the bearer 3 may all use the TCP for transmission. Alternatively,the bearer 1, the bearer 2, and the bearer 3 may all use the UDP fortransmission. Alternatively, the bearer 1 may use the TCP fortransmission, and the bearer 2 and the bearer 3 may use the UDP fortransmission. The TCP is a reliable transmission mechanism and may beused for bearing video data of high importance. The UDP is an unreliabletransmission mechanism and may be used for bearing video data of lowimportance.

The following further describes the mapping relationship between a frametype and frame importance, and the mapping relationship between a NALUtype and NALU importance described in 501.

The mapping relationship between a frame type and frame importance maybe one-to-one or many-to-one. A one-to-one mapping relationship meansone frame type is corresponding to one type of frame importance, and amany-to-one mapping relationship means at least two frame types arecorresponding to one same type of frame importance. For example, frameimportance may be defined as three levels: high, medium, and low.Correspondingly, the I-frame may be mapped to the high-importance level,the P-frame may be mapped to the medium-importance level, and theB-frame may be mapped to the low-importance level. Alternatively, theI-frame may be mapped to the high-importance level, and both the P-frameand the B-frame may be mapped to the medium-importance level.

It can be understood that the mapping relationship between a frame typeand frame importance may be predetermined and stored in the videoservice transmission apparatus. Further, the mapping relationshipbetween a frame type and frame importance may be only one or more thanone. In a scenario of more than one mapping relationships between aframe type and frame importance, the video service transmissionapparatus can further determine, based on configuration parametersrelated to the mapping relationship, specifically which mappingrelationship to be used.

In the H.264 standard, when a value of the NALU type is 3, it indicatesthat a data type in the NALU is a coding slice data segmentation blockB, including mainly information of the I-macroblock and theSI-macroblock; when a value of the NALU type is 4, it indicates that adata type in the NALU is a coding slice data segmentation block C,including mainly information of the P-macroblock and the B-macroblock.

To define a data type in the NALU in a more flexible manner, the valueof the NALU type may be extended. For example, when the value of theNALU type is defined to be 24, it indicates that the NALU includesmainly information of the I-macroblock; when the value of the NALU typeis defined to be 25, it indicates that the NALU includes mainlyinformation of the SI-macroblock; when the value of the NALU type isdefined to be 26, it indicates that the NALU includes mainly informationof the P-macroblock; and when the value of the NALU type is defined tobe 27, it indicates that the NALU includes mainly information of theB-macroblock.

The mapping relationship between a NALU type and NALU importance may beone-to-one, or many-to-one. A one-to-one mapping relationship means oneNALU type is corresponding to one type of NALU importance, and amany-to-one mapping relationship means at least two NALU types arecorresponding to one same type of NALU importance. For example, NALUimportance may be defined as three levels: high, medium, and low.Correspondingly, a NALU with a type 24 may be mapped to thehigh-importance level, a NALU with a type 25 may be mapped to themedium-importance level, and NALUs with types 4, 26, and 27 may bemapped to the low-importance level. Alternatively, NALUs with types 3,24, and 25 may be mapped to the high-importance level, and NALUs withtypes 4, 26, and 27 may be mapped to the medium-importance level. Theforegoing describes the mapping relationship between a NALU type andNALU importance by using extended values of NALU types. It can beunderstood that the mapping relationship between a NALU type and NALUimportance may alternatively be based on an existing value of a NALUtype. Detailed examples are not provided herein again.

It can be understood that the mapping relationship between a NALU typeand NALU importance may be predetermined and stored in the video servicetransmission apparatus. Further, the mapping relationship between a NALUtype and NALU importance may be only one or more than one. In a scenarioof more than one mapping relationships between a NALU type and NALUimportance, the video service transmission apparatus can furtherdetermine, based on configuration parameters related to the mappingrelationship, specifically which mapping relationship to be used.

The foregoing extension of values of NALU types may be implemented in ascenario of flexible mapping from a macroblock to a NALU. The flexiblemapping may be obtained through extension by using an existing flexiblemacroblock ordering (FMO) encoding method. FMO is a function provided inthe H.264 standard to improve bit error resistance performance of videoservice transmission. The function supports mapping a macroblock todifferent slice groups by configuring different mapping patterns. Thefunction is completed before video encoding. A slice group includes atleast one slice in a same picture. A slice is an independent predictivecoding unit, and a macroblock of a slice cannot be predicted withreference to a macroblock of another slice. When a slice has a problemanother slice can still be independently decoded. This prevents an errorfrom spreading.

In the H.264 standard, seven patterns of mapping a macroblock to a slicegroup are defined, and are sequentially an interleaved pattern, adispersed pattern, a foreground and background pattern, a box-outpattern, a raster scan pattern, a wipe pattern, and an explicit pattern.The first six patterns are specified in the standard, and the seventhpattern is user-defined. For detailed descriptions about the FMO, referto <H.264 and MPEG-4 video compression>.

As shown in FIG. 4, one NALU is corresponding to one slice, and data ofone slice likely includes macroblocks of different types. Extension ofthe existing FMO encoding method may be implemented in the followingmanner:

A new pattern of mapping a macroblock to a slice group is defined, wherethe mapping pattern can define which types of macroblocks are mapped toa same slice group. For example, the I-macroblock may be mapped to aslice group 1, the SI-macroblock may be mapped to a slice group 2, theP-macroblock may be mapped to a slice group 3, and the B-macroblock maybe mapped to a slice group 4. Alternatively, both the I-macroblock andthe SI-macroblock are mapped to the slice group 1, the P-macroblock ismapped to the slice group 2, and the B-macroblock is mapped to the slicegroup 3. Alternatively, both the I-macroblock and the SI-macroblock aremapped to the slice group 1, and both the P-macroblock and theB-macroblock are mapped to the slice group 2. The video servicetransmission apparatus can determine, based on configuration parametersrelated to mapping from a macroblock to a slice group, specificallywhich types of macroblocks are mapped to a same slice group.

For the splitting, based on a mapping relationship between dataimportance and a substream, data into at least two substreams in 502,there may be different splitting schemes. For example, the splittingschemes may be specifically:

1. Splitting at a Video Data Frame Level:

The splitting at a video data frame level is: Splitting, in agranularity of a video data frame, the data into at least two substreamsbased on a mapping relationship between importance of a video data frameand a substream.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of possible video data splittingtransmission at a video data frame level according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, a frame I is split into asubstream 1, a frame B is split into a substream 2, and a frame P issplit into a substream 3, respectively, for transmission.

Further, after data is split in a granularity of a video data frame,header information of a video data frame in a substream may furtherinclude a before-splitting DSN of the video data frame in addition to asubstream data sequence number (DSN) of the video data frame in thepost-splitting substream. Using FIG. 6 as an example, before splitting,original DSNs of an I1, a B1, a P1, an I2, a B2, and a P2 are 1, 2, 3,4, 5, and 6, respectively. After the splitting, substream DSNs of the I1and the I2 in the substream 1 are 1 and 2, substream DSNs of the B1 andthe B2 in the substream 2 are 1 and 2, and substream DSNs of the P1 andthe P2 in the substream 3 are 1 and 2.

2. Splitting at a NALU Level

The splitting at a NALU level is: Splitting, in a granularity of a NALU,the data into at least two substreams based on a mapping relationshipbetween importance of a NALU in a video data frame and a substream.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of possible video data splitting at a NALUlevel according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 7, a data frame 1 includes a NALU1, a NALU2, and a NALU3; a dataframe 2 includes a NALU4, a NALU5, and a NALU6; and a data frame 3includes a NALU7, a NALU8, and a NALU9. A macroblock type included inthe NALU1, the NALU4, and the NALU7 is an I-macroblock and anSI-macroblock; a macroblock type included in the NALU2, the NALU5, andthe NALU8 is a P-macroblock; and a macroblock type included in theNALU3, the NALU6, and the NALU9 is a B-macroblock. After splittingprocessing based on NALU importance, the NALU1, the NALU4, and the NALU7are split into a substream 1; the NALU2, the NALU5, and the NALU8 aresplit into a substream 2; and the NALU3, the NALU6, and the NALU9 aresplit into a substream 3.

Further, after data is split in a granularity of a NALU, headerinformation of a video data frame in the substream may further includean original DSN that is corresponding to each NALU in the substream dataframe in addition to a post-splitting substream DSN. Using FIG. 7 as anexample, after splitting, the NALU1, the NALU4, and the NALU7 form adata frame 1 in the substream 1, and a corresponding substream DSN is 1;the NALU2, the NALU5, and the NALU8 form a data frame 1 in the substream2, and a corresponding substream DSN is 1; and the NALU3, the NALU6, andthe NALU9 form a data frame 1 in the substream 3, and a correspondingsubstream DSN is 1. Before splitting, original DSNs of the NALU1, theNALU2, and the NALU3 are 1; original DSNs of the NALU4, the NALU5, andthe NALU6 are 2; and original DSNs of the NALU7, the NALU8, and theNALU9 are 3.

It can be understood that the video service transmission apparatus maysupport at least one splitting scheme. Further, in a scenario in whichthe video service transmission apparatus supports more than onesplitting scheme, the video service transmission apparatus may furtherdetermine specifically which splitting scheme to be used based on aconfiguration parameter related to the splitting scheme.

The foregoing introduces the video service transmission method from aperspective of the video service transmission apparatus. The followingdescribes the video service transmission method from a perspective of avideo service receiving apparatus.

504: A video service receiving apparatus receives, from at least twobearers, data of at least two substreams.

The bearers are corresponding to the substreams based on a receive-endport number, and the data of the substreams is obtained by splittingvideo data based on a mapping relationship between importance of data ina video data frame and a substream.

505: The video service receiving apparatus performs aggregationprocessing on the data that is from the at least two substreams.

Specifically, corresponding to different data splitting manners used in502, the aggregation processing that is performed by the video servicereceiving apparatus on the data received from the substreams may vary.The aggregation processing can be understood as an inverse process ofthe data splitting process in 502.

For example:

If splitting at a video data frame level is performed in 502, the videoservice receiving apparatus can aggregate the data of the substreams,and sort the aggregated data based on a before-splitting original DSN.The data herein exists in a form of a video data frame. As shown in FIG.6, the video service receiving apparatus aggregates video data frames I1and I2 of a substream 1, video data frames B1 and B2 of a substream 2,and video data frames P1 and P2 of a substream 3, and performs sortingbased on before-splitting original DSNs of the I1, the I2, the B1, theB2, the P1, and the P2. The sorting result is: I1, B1, P1, I2, B2, andP2.

If splitting at a NALU level is performed in 502, the video servicereceiving apparatus first aggregates the data of the substreams, basedon a before-splitting original DSN that is corresponding to a NALU inthe data, combines the NALU to restore a before-splitting video dataframe, and then sorts the generated video data frame based on theoriginal DSN.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of possible video data aggregation in ascenario of video data splitting at a NALU level according to anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, original DSNsof a NALU1, a NALU2, and a NALU3 are all 1, and the video servicereceiving apparatus re-combines the NALU1 of a substream 1, the NALU2 ofa substream 2, and the NALU3 of a substream 3 to generate a video dataframe 1. Original DSNs of a NALU4, a NALU5, and a NALU6 are all 2, andthe video service receiving apparatus re-combines the NALU4 of asubstream 1, the NALU5 of a substream 2, and the NALU6 of a substream 3to generate a video data frame 2. Original DSNs of a NALU7, a NALU8, anda NALU9 are all 3, and the video service receiving apparatus re-combinesthe NALU7 of a substream 1, the NALU8 of a substream 2, and the NALU9 ofa substream 3 to generate a video data frame 3. Then video data framesthat are generated after the re-combination are sorted based on theoriginal DSNs.

It can be understood that the video service receiving apparatus cansupport aggregation processing corresponding to at least one splittingscheme. The video service receiving apparatus determines a splittingscheme used for video service transmission before performing aggregationprocessing. Specifically, the video service receiving apparatus maydetermine the splitting scheme used for video service transmission byusing a splitting scheme-related information element, where thesplitting scheme-related information element may be included in asignaling message or may be included in the video data and sent by thevideo service transmission apparatus to the video service receivingapparatus. Alternatively, the video service receiving apparatus maydetermine the splitting scheme used for video service transmission byobtaining a characteristic of the video data frame. For example, when asplitting scheme at a NALU level is used, a post-splitting video dataframe includes NALUs of a same type. However, when a splitting scheme ata video data frame level is used, a post-splitting video data frameincludes various types of NALUs. For a scenario in which only onesplitting scheme is supported, the splitting scheme supported by thevideo service receiving apparatus and the video service transmissionapparatus may be specified.

The video service data after aggregation processing is decoded to obtaina before-encoding video.

For radio bearers with different QoS requirements, a radio accessnetwork (RAN) has a plurality of policies to ensure reliabletransmission of data on a radio bearer of high importance with priority.

The RAN may use different network configuration parameters. For example,different radio link control (RLC) modes are used. For data on a radiobearer of high importance, an RLC acknowledged mode (AM) is used; fordata on a radio bearer of low importance, an RLC unacknowledged mode(UM) is used. Alternatively, different quantities of retransmissions ofa hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) are configured. For data on aradio bearer of high importance, a relatively large quantity of HARQretransmissions is configured, for example, 6, so as to ensure reliabletransmission of the data; for data on a radio bearer of low importance,a relatively small quantity of HARQ retransmissions is configured, forexample, 2. In this way, in a scenario of constrained resources,reliable transmission of data of high importance may be ensured withpriority.

The RAN may alternatively use different scheduling policies fordifferent radio bearers, and allocate radio resources to the data on theradio bearer of high importance with priority. In this way, in ascenario of constrained resources, reliable transmission of data of highimportance may be ensured with priority.

The RAN may alternatively map different radio bearers to differentcarriers for bearing. For example, in a carrier aggregation scenario,because a path loss of a low-frequency carrier is less than a path lossof a high-frequency carrier, a radio bearer of high importance may bemapped to the low-frequency carrier for transmission, and a radio bearerof low importance may be mapped to the high-frequency carrier fortransmission.

The RAN may alternatively map different radio bearers to differentspectrums for bearing. A licensed spectrum is a spectrum resource thatmay be controlled by an operator, and interference coordination andcontrol can be performed effectively. An unlicensed spectrum is beyondcontrol of the operator, and interferences and conflicts of which areuncontrollable. For data transmission on the unlicensed spectrum, atransmission bandwidth and delay cannot be ensured. However, due to lowcosts, using the unlicensed spectrum is an effective supplement to datatransmission by operators. Therefore, the radio bearer of highimportance may be mapped to the licensed spectrum for transmission, andthe radio bearer of low importance may be mapped to the unlicensedspectrum for transmission.

The foregoing mainly describes the solutions provided in the embodimentsof the present invention from a perspective of interaction betweennetwork elements. It can be understood that to implement the foregoingfunctions, the network elements such as the terminal, the videoconference terminal, the eNB, the MME, the S-GW, the P-GW, the PCRF, thevideo server, and the video conference management server, the videoservice transmission apparatus, and the video service receivingapparatus include corresponding hardware structures and/or softwaremodules for performing the functions. A person of ordinary skill in theart should easily be aware that units and solution steps in examplesdescribed with reference to the embodiments disclosed in the presentinvention can be implemented by hardware or a combination of hardwareand computer software in the present invention. Whether a function isperformed by hardware, computer software, or computer software drivinghardware depends on particular applications and design constraints ofthe technical solutions. A person skilled in the art may use differentmethods to implement the described functions for each particularapplication, but it should not be considered that the implementationgoes beyond the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a possible video servicetransmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The apparatus implements functions of the video servicetransmission apparatus in the video service transmission methoddescribed in FIG. 5, and therefore can implement the beneficial effectsof the video service transmission method. The video service transmissionapparatus includes a processor 902 and a transceiver 903.

The processor 902 is configured to determine importance of data in avideo data frame, is configured to split the data in the video dataframe into at least two substreams based on a mapping relationshipbetween data importance and a substream, and is further configured tomap, based on port numbers corresponding to the at least two substreams,data of the at least two substreams to bearers corresponding to the atleast two substreams.

The transceiver 903 configured to transmit data on the bearer.

The video service transmission apparatus may further include a videoencoder 901. The video encoder 901 is configured to encode a video toobtain a video data frame, and send the encoded video data frame to theprocessor 902 for processing.

The video service transmission apparatus may further include a memory904. The memory 904 is configured to store program code and data in thevideo encoder 901, the processor 902, and the transceiver 903. The datastored in the memory 904 may include at least one of a mappingrelationship between a frame type and frame importance, a mappingrelationship between a NALU type and NALU importance, a mappingrelationship from a macroblock to a slice group, and a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of determining, by theprocessor 902, importance of data in a video data frame, refer torelated descriptions in 501 in the foregoing method embodiments. For amanner and a process of splitting, by the processor 902, the data in thevideo data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream, refer to relateddescriptions in 502 in the foregoing method embodiments.

The processor 902 maps a macroblock in a video picture to a slice group,and sends slice group data of the video picture to the video encoder901. For details about a manner and a process of mapping a macroblock toa slice group, refer to related descriptions in 501 in the foregoingmethod embodiments.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of mapping, by the processor902 based on port numbers corresponding to the at least two substreams,data of the at least two substreams to bearers corresponding to the atleast two substreams, refer to related descriptions in 503 in theforegoing method embodiments.

The processor 902 may further perform encryption processing, by using asecure transfer protocol, on the data of the substream that is mapped tothe bearer.

The video service transmission apparatus in this embodiment of thepresent invention implements the steps/behaviors performed by the videoservice transmission apparatus in the foregoing method embodiments, andfunctions of each component of the video service transmission apparatusmay be specifically implemented based on the method in the foregoingmethod embodiments. For a detailed specific implementation process,refer to related descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments.

It can be understood that FIG. 9 shows merely an embodiment of the videoservice transmission apparatus. In actual application, the video servicetransmission apparatus may include any quantity of video encoders,processors, transceivers, and memories. Any video service transmissionapparatus that can implement this embodiment of the present inventionfalls within the protection scope of this application.

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another possible videoservice transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The apparatus implements functions of the video servicetransmission apparatus in the video service transmission methoddescribed in FIG. 5, and therefore can implement the beneficial effectsof the video service transmission method. The video service transmissionapparatus includes a data splitting unit 1003, a bearer mapping unit1004, and a communications unit 1005.

The data splitting unit 1003 is configured to determine importance ofdata in a video data frame, and is configured to split the data in thevideo data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream.

The bearer mapping unit 1004 is configured to map, based on port numberscorresponding to the at least two substreams, data of the at least twosubstreams to bearers corresponding to the at least two substreams. Thecommunications unit 1005 is configured to transmit data on the bearer.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of determining, by the datasplitting unit 1003, importance of data in a video data frame, refer torelated descriptions in 501 in the foregoing method embodiments. For amanner and a process of splitting, by the data splitting unit 1003, thedata in the video data frame into at least two substreams based on amapping relationship between data importance and a substream, refer torelated descriptions in 502 in the foregoing method embodiments.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of mapping, by the bearermapping unit 1004 based on port numbers corresponding to the at leasttwo substreams, data of the at least two substreams to bearerscorresponding to the at least two substreams, refer to relateddescriptions in 503 in the foregoing method embodiments. The bearermapping unit 1004 may further perform encryption processing, by using asecure transfer protocol, on the data of the substream that is mapped tothe bearer.

The video service transmission apparatus may further include a videoencoding unit 1002, configured to encode a video to obtain a video dataframe, and send the encoded video data frame to the data splitting unit1003 for splitting processing on the data.

The video service transmission apparatus may further include a flexiblemacroblock ordering unit 1001, configured to implement mapping from amacroblock to a slice group in a video picture, and send slice groupdata of the video picture to the video encoding unit 1002.

Specifically, for a data splitting scheme at a NALU level, there may beflexible mapping from a macroblock to a NALU. The flexible macroblockordering unit 1001 may extend an existing FMO encoding method and definea new mapping pattern from a macroblock to a slice group. The mappingpattern may define which types of macroblocks are mapped to a same slicegroup.

The video service transmission apparatus may further include a storageunit 1006. The storage unit 1006 is configured to store related programcode and data in the flexible macroblock ordering unit 1001, the videoencoding unit 1002, the data splitting unit 1003, the bearer mappingunit 1004, and the communications unit 1005. The data stored in thestorage unit 1006 may include at least a mapping relationship between aframe type and frame importance, a mapping relationship between a NALUtype and NALU importance, a mapping relationship from a macroblock to aslice group, and a mapping relationship between data importance and astream.

The video service transmission apparatus in this embodiment of thepresent invention implements the steps/behaviors performed by the videoservice transmission apparatus in the foregoing method embodiments, andfunctions of each component of the video service transmission apparatusmay be specifically implemented based on the method in the foregoingmethod embodiments. For a detailed specific implementation process,refer to related descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a possible video servicereceiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.The apparatus implements functions of the video service receivingapparatus in the video service transmission method described in FIG. 5,and therefore can implement the beneficial effects of the video servicetransmission method. The video service receiving apparatus includes aprocessor 1102 and a transceiver 1103.

The transceiver 1103 is configured to receive, from at least twobearers, data of at least two substreams, where the bearers arecorresponding to the substreams based on a receive-end port number, andthe data of the substreams is obtained by splitting video data based ona mapping relationship between importance of data in a video data frameand a substream. The processor 1102 is configured to perform aggregationprocessing on the data that is from the at least two substreams.

It can be understood that the video service receiving apparatus mayfurther include a video decoder 1101, configured to decode the dataafter the aggregation processing, to obtain a before-encoding video.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of performing, by the processor1102, aggregation processing on the data, refer to related descriptionsin 505 in the foregoing method embodiments.

It can be understood that FIG. 11 shows merely an embodiment of thevideo service receiving apparatus. In actual application, the videoservice receiving apparatus may include any quantity of video decoders,processors, and transceivers. Any video service receiving apparatus thatcan implement the present invention falls within the protection scope ofthis application.

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another possible videoservice receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The apparatus implements functions of the video servicereceiving apparatus in the video service transmission method describedin FIG. 5, and therefore can implement the beneficial effects of thevideo service transmission method. The video service receiving apparatusincludes a data aggregation unit 1202 and a communications unit 1203.

The communications unit 1203 is configured to receive, from at least twobearers, data of at least two substreams, where the bearers arecorresponding to the substreams based on a receive-end port number, andthe data of the substreams is obtained by splitting video data based ona mapping relationship between importance of data in a video data frameand a substream.

The data aggregation unit 1202 is configured to perform aggregationprocessing on the data that is from the at least two substreams.

The video service receiving apparatus may further include a videodecoding unit 1201, configured to decode the data after the aggregationprocessing, to obtain a before-encoding video.

Specifically, for a manner and a process of performing, by the dataaggregation unit 1202, aggregation processing on the data, refer torelated descriptions in 505 in the foregoing method embodiments.

The processor configured to perform a function of the foregoing videoservice transmission apparatus and the video service receiving apparatusterminal may be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purposeprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) oranother programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardwarecomponent, or any combination thereof. The processor can implement orexecute various example logical functions and modules that are describedwith reference to the content disclosed in the present invention.

A person skilled in the art should be aware that in one or more of theforegoing examples, the functions described in the present invention maybe implemented by using hardware, software, firmware, or any combinationthereof. When the functions are implemented by software, these functionsmay be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one ormore instructions or code in the computer-readable medium. Thecomputer-readable medium includes a computer storage medium and acommunications medium, where the communications medium includes anymedium that facilitates transmission of a computer program or relatedinformation from one place to another. The storage medium may be anyavailable medium accessible to a general-purpose or dedicated computer.

In the foregoing specific implementations, the objectives, technicalsolutions, and benefits of the present invention are further describedin detail. It should be understood that the foregoing descriptions aremerely specific implementations of the present invention, but are notintended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Anymodification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made based on thetechnical solutions of the present invention shall fall within theprotection scope of the present invention.

1. A video service transmission method, wherein the method comprises:determining importance of data in a video data frame; splitting the datain the video data frame into at least two substreams based on a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream; and mapping, basedon port numbers corresponding to the at least two substreams, data ofthe at least two substreams to bearers corresponding to the at least twosubstreams, for transmission.
 2. The video service transmission methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the determining importance of data in thevideo data frame comprises: determining importance of the video dataframe, or determining importance of a network abstract layer unit (NALU)in the video data frame.
 3. The video service transmission methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the determining importance of the videodata frame comprises: obtaining a frame type of the video data frame;and determining the importance of the video data frame based on amapping relationship between a frame type and frame importance.
 4. Thevideo service transmission method according to claim 2, wherein thedetermining importance of the NALU in the video data frame comprises:obtaining a NALU type of the NALU in the video data frame; anddetermining the importance of the NALU based on a mapping relationshipbetween the NALU type and NALU importance.
 5. The video servicetransmission method according to claim 1, wherein the splitting the datain the video data frame into at least two substreams based on themapping relationship between data importance and the substreamcomprises: splitting, in a granularity of a video data frame, the datainto the at least two substreams based on a mapping relationship betweenvideo data frame importance and a substream; or splitting, in agranularity of a NALU, the data into the at least two substreams basedon a mapping relationship between importance of a NALU in a video dataframe and a substream.
 6. The video service transmission methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the mapping, based on port numberscorresponding to the at least two substreams, data of the at least twosubstreams to bearers corresponding to the at least two substreams, fortransmission comprises: determining, based on a stream number of thesubstream, a media sub-component description corresponding to thesubstream; determining a transmit-end port number in the mediasub-component description; determining the bearer corresponding to thesubstream based on the transmit-end port number; and mapping the data ofthe substream to the bearer corresponding to the substream, fortransmission.
 7. The video service transmission method according toclaim 1, wherein the bearers corresponding to the substream aretransmitted using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the UserDatagram Protocol (UDP), or a combination thereof.
 8. The video servicetransmission method according to claim 1, wherein the mapping data ofthe substream to a bearer corresponding to the substream, fortransmission further comprises: transmitting, by using a secure transferprotocol, the data of the substream that is mapped to the bearer.
 9. Avideo service transmission apparatus, comprising: a processor,configured to determine importance of data in a video data frame andsplit the data in the video data frame into at least two substreamsbased on a mapping relationship between data importance and a substream,and further configured to map, based on port numbers corresponding tothe at least two substreams, data of the at least two substreams tobearers corresponding to the at least two substreams; and a transceiver,configured to transmit data on the bearers.
 10. The video servicetransmission apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the processor isconfigured to determine importance of the video data frame or determineimportance of a network abstract layer unit (NALU) in the video dataframe.
 11. The video service transmission apparatus according to claim10, wherein the processor is further configured to: obtain a frame typeof the video data frame; and determine the importance of the video dataframe based on a mapping relationship between a frame type and frameimportance.
 12. The video service transmission apparatus according toclaim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: obtain a NALUtype of the NALU in the video data frame; and determine the importanceof the NALU based on a mapping relationship between a NALU type and NALUimportance.
 13. The video service transmission apparatus according toclaim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: split, in agranularity of a video data frame, the data into the at least twosubstreams based on a mapping relationship between video data frameimportance and a substream; or split, in a granularity of a NALU, thedata into the at least two substreams based on a mapping relationshipbetween importance of a NALU in a video data frame and a substream. 14.The video service transmission apparatus according to claim 9, furthercomprising: a memory, configured to store at least one of a mappingrelationship between a frame type and frame importance, a mappingrelationship between a NALU type and NALU importance, a mappingrelationship from a macroblock to a slice group, and a mappingrelationship between data importance and a substream.
 15. The videoservice transmission apparatus according to claim 9, wherein theprocessor is further configured to: determine, based a stream number ofthe substream, a media sub-component description corresponding to thesubstream, determine a transmit-end port number in the mediasub-component description, determine the bearer corresponding to thesubstream based on the transmit-end port number, and map the data of thesubstream to the bearer corresponding to the substream.
 16. The videoservice transmission apparatus according to claim 9, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform encryption processing, byusing a secure transfer protocol, on the data of the substream that ismapped to the bearer.
 17. A video service receiving apparatus,comprising: a transceiver, configured to receive, from at least twobearers, data of at least two substreams, wherein the bearers correspondto the substreams based on a receive-end port number, and the data ofthe substreams is obtained by splitting video data based on a mappingrelationship between importance of data in a video data frame and asubstream; and a processor, configured to perform aggregation processingon the data that is from the at least two substreams.
 18. The videoservice receiving apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processoris further configured to determine a splitting scheme used for videoservice transmission by using a splitting scheme-related informationelement.
 19. The video service receiving apparatus according to claim17, wherein the processor is further configured to: aggregate the dataof the at least two substreams, and sort the aggregated data based on abefore-splitting original data sequence number (DSN); or aggregate thedata of the at least two substreams, based on a before-splittingoriginal DSN that corresponds to a network abstract layer unit (NALU) inthe data, combine the NALU to restore a before-splitting video dataframe, and sort the video data frame based on the original DSN.
 20. Thevideo service receiving apparatus according to claim 17, wherein thevideo service receiving apparatus is any one of a terminal, a videoconference terminal, and a video conference management server.